Achilles Heel
by orpheneritus
Summary: [Yuushi takes a little trip down paranioa lane.] Yuushi was feeling something, and it was a feeling he didn’t like very much


Achilles Heel by orpheneritus

Gakuto was being a bit of a girl, and ignoring the evident irony of that thought, it was pissing Yuushi off a great deal.

Their whole relationship was based on the fundamental fact that Gakuto was ready to drop his pants whenever he was. The sudden change in the basic philosophy of their sex life was not sitting well with him.

'What?' he repeated incredulously. Careless of the rest of the regulars sitting around the lunch table, trying to ignore them.

Gakuto picked up his soda and took a leisurely sip. 'I said, no fucking way,' he quietly hissed.

Yuushi slid onto the bench beside his partner. 'Why not? You've never turned me down before…'

Gakuto glared menacingly and shuffled farther down the bench, earning himself a glower from Shishido, who looked distinctly uncomfortable with their encroaching proximity. 'You've never tried to humiliate me before,' he muttered.

'I thought you were up for anything, Gakuto…' Yuushi didn't miss the warning signs, the tightening of his fists, the slight growl.

'Why don't you just find some girl?' he spat.

Yuushi laughed at the ridiculousness of his question. 'Gakuto,' he snorted. 'Where am I going to find a girl who'll do that?'

Almost instantaneously he knew that had been the incorrect response.

Gakuto stood, back stiff, shoulders tense. 'I guess I don't really care…' he said softly, before swinging his bag over his shoulder and heading back to class.

His head hit the tabletop with a dull thud.

'You know, Oshitari…' Atobe slid onto the bench beside him. 'The correct response to that last question should've been something along the lines of, I don't want just some girl…'

'Thanks, Atobe,' he grunted. 'That's really helpful.'

'If he's proving too much to handle I could—'

'No,' he snapped. 'Don't even joke about it.' Hands pressed flat against the table, he hadn't even realised he was standing.

Atobe stood up casually hands resting lightly in his pockets. 'You should be more careful about how you play these games. If you mess up, there are others waiting in line to take your place.'

'I hope you don't mean yourself,' he growled.

Atobe gave him a non-committal shrug.

With a wide smile Atobe turned to leave; Kabaji trailing him, school bag in one arm, Jirou in the other.

Others? Yuushi wondered at Atobe's warning.

He hadn't noticed anyone else competing for Gakuto's attentions, but then he did tend to be rather self-absorbed. Yuushi took a not-so-subtle glance over his shoulder, as if to ensure that the line-up was only metaphorical.

There was no line, but Hiyoshi was giving him a glare slightly more angered than his usual expression…

However, Yuushi was in no way discouraged. He'd had more than one disagreement with Gakuto, and those had ended well enough. Usually on a soft surface with a few less clothes on than before.

He and Gakuto had chemistry. He felt certain when he asked again the following day that he wouldn't be turned down twice.

2/

Yuushi was feeling something, and it was a feeling he didn't like very much. It made his throat tight, his stomach upset, and left a distinct taste of bitterness in his mouth. He strongly suspected it was the taste of failure, frustration or both.

Gakuto had denied him twice, and was now ignoring him. Gakuto had not only eaten lunch with Kabaji instead of him, but had also sat beside Aki during chemistry. Gakuto hated Aki, having once described her gum chewing habit as less attractive than his eighty-five year old uncle masticating natto.

Earlier in the day he was inclined to let Gakuto play his little game. After all, Gakuto had very little patience for protracted strategy of any kind, so his triumph seemed assured. He'd been surprised and a little impressed that Gakuto had held out until lunch, but now his obstinate behaviour was getting a little wearisome.

Worse than Gakuto's refusal to acknowledge him, was the abysmal response he was receiving to his proposal amongst those of the opposite sex. Currently he was scoring three slaps, a book bag to the head, and a request from the student council to explain his actions.

The atmosphere at tennis practice was slightly more tense than usual amongst the regulars. Watching Gakuto frown so intensely was giving him a serious tension headache. Moreover, if he was so unhappy with the situation, why didn't he give in? Then they could get back to tennis and more importantly sex afterwards.

It wasn't as if Gakuto didn't like their current arrangement. It suited them both. Gakuto was fun, athletic and incredibly attractive. He was easy to talk to and even easier to not talk to. He always had a good time with Gakuto…

So he was more than a little miffed at the outrageousness of his refusal. Hadn't he done everything for Gakuto, given in to his every whim, indulged his odd cravings and base desires for violent movies and video games?

He couldn't understand what motivated such a sudden change. Yuushi rather suspected that Gakuto had been listening to someone a good deal too clever, getting advice, thinking that things had to change between them. One of the others Atobe mentioned.

The time for stratagem had passed. Gakuto would give in if he could just get him alone. Corner his partner make him recall… vividly, the good things between them.

Gakuto would be alone, after practice on the roof of the gym, where he always went for a little solitude.

Except that he wasn't… alone that is.

3/  
Resting on his back, legs and arms akimbo, was Gakuto. Jirou curled against his side, head resting on his partner's shoulder. He could see their lips moving, talking amiably. The quiet chatter punctuated with smiles and the occasional laugh.

Then Jirou started padding around Gakuto's midsection, causing the red haired boy to laugh and slap away his hands.

No one tickled Gakuto. He hated it. He had profusely exclaimed on more than one occasion his dislike of tickle related activities. Yuushi quickly ducked out of sight, Gakuto's peals of laughter hastening his descent from the roof.

Was it worse than he'd thought… Hiyoshi, Jirou and perhaps even Atobe, competing for Gakuto's affections?

It couldn't be. It wouldn't be. Surely Gakuto liked him more than the others. They shared more, had more in common, spent more time together. Gakuto adored him. Excepting this recent disagreement of course, but still, adored him.

And Gakuto with anyone else would be wrong. He was too noisy for Atobe, too mischievous for Shishido, too crude for Ohtori, too frivolous for Hiyoshi, too awake for Jirou and too… small for Kabaji. Gakuto was his perfect match and he'd be dammed if he was going to let some one else take his place.

It was time to take the offensive, he always did his best work on the offensive.

Yuushi was looking smooth today. Not at all bothered by the rapid dissolution of his entire life. Smooth.

Smooth enough to spend the entire day following Gakuto without being noticed.

'Yuushi?'

Shit. Yuushi glanced up at Gakuto hanging out of the window above him.

'What are you doing in the yard?' Gakuto asked folding his arms across his chest.

'Walking to school with you,' Yuushi replied smoothly.

'The corner where we usually meet broken?'

Yuushi shrugged casually. 'Just concerned about leaving you on the corner for too long…'

'Yuushi... fuck you.' The window slammed shut leaving the glass rattling in its frame.

Things were not going exactly to plan.

Yuushi spent a miserable twenty minutes trailing the red head to school as Gakuto resolutely ignored him and chatted away at Ohtori.

'Ah, Mukahi? Why aren't we walking with Oshitari?' Ohtori asked with a sideways glance at him trailing behind.

Gakuto sniffed. 'Because I'm mad at him.'

'Ah,' Ohtori nodded uncomfortably. 'Don't you think…'

But Gakuto's glare was fierce enough to silence Ohtori.

Gakuto continued to ignore him the whole day and it was driving Yuushi to distraction. Naturally, that was why Gakuto was doing it. So he made a concentrated effort not to let it show.

Without Gakuto by his side he found himself eating lunch with the regulars, but at the same time, not with the regulars. They were all at their normal table, eating their normal lunches, but things were not normal.

Gakuto was sitting at the other end of the table telling dirty jokes to none other than Ohtori, who was blushing a furious red as Hiyoshi and Shishido made fun of his embarrassment. And as if the world wasn't tilting the axis enough Atobe smirked. Not a mean condescending smirk, but a… I am terribly amused… sort of smirk that was accompanied by a small sound somewhat resembling a laugh.

They liked Gakuto. Everyone. They all liked him. Even though he was rude, crude and generally noisy, they liked him. Yuushi stood up hastily from the table and left. 

How could they all betray him like this? When they all knew that Gakuto was his. It couldn't be borne, he would find out who his friends truly were.

4/

'Ohtori,' he called out as the silver haired boy passed him in the hallway. 'Borrow you for a moment?'

Ohtori looked back over his shoulder, but shrugged in acquiesce. 'What's up,' the younger boy queried as Yuushi led him into an empty classroom.

'I just had a couple of quick questions,' Yuushi replied pulling his notebook from his back pocket.

'Okay.'

'What is your relationship with Gakuto?'

'Sorry? Oh… Um, friends.'

'So, you would describe yourself as friends, but not particularly friendly?' Yuushi enquired archly, glancing over the junior.

He tried to see Ohtori objectively. Ohtori was tall, and Gakuto liked them tall. Yuushi supposed he could be considered handsome, if a little gawky… and well Gakuto liked them handsome. All that seemed fairly mundane, except… Gakuto had mentioned on numerous (sometimes lengthy) occasions that his Kansai accent made him… ah, interested. His partner liked something different, something outstanding. Yuushi glanced over Ohtori's silvery hair and light colouring with concern.

Ohtori frowned, looking a little confused at his line of questioning. 'Ah, I guess I don't really spend that much time with Mukahi-sempai. Maybe you should ask him some of these questions… you're together most of the time.'

'So,' he drawled. 'You find my presence a barrier to a meaningful friendship between yourself and Gakuto?' Yuushi smirked and mentally congratulated himself for being somewhat intimidating.

'N-not…' Ohtori's eyes glanced past him to the door. 'Ah, I think I see Shishido-sempai…' With that the younger boy grabbed his bag and made a quick dash for the door.

It occurred to Yuushi that Ohtori hadn't seen Shishido at all, and that the boy had perhaps used a falsified excuse to escape his ever more intuitive questioning.

He pondered over the information he'd collected on Ohtori. It was obvious the younger boy was crushing quite badly over Gakuto, and why wouldn't he be... The hot blushes during questioning, his sudden need to escape the questioning process. However, it seemed to him that Ohtori was hardly the type to press a sexual advantage.

With some confidence Yuushi struck a line through Ohtori's name.

Yuushi stared at Kabaji for the third time as the junior gave the same answer as he had to his previous two questions.

'So…' he ventured uneasily. 'Does that mean you consider Gakuto attractive in a sexual manner?'

'Osu,' Kabaji nodded.

Yuushi put his pen down and crossed his legs. 'Tell me Kabaji-san, is twenty four times zero twenty-four?'

Kabaji looked a little confused for a moment, then replied, 'Osu.'

'Hmm…' Yuushi picked up his pen and struck through Kabaji's name.

The strike to his lower jaw was fast, powerful and punctuated with a heated glare. Yuushi calmly rubbed his jaw with one hand and circled Shishido's name with the other.

He confronted Hiyoshi in the gym after classes, the other boy engaged in a friendly game of basketball. Hiyoshi was an intense sort of player in everything he undertook. An aggressive baseliner, Yuushi was pretty much pre-programmed to conflict with him in almost every aspect.

He couldn't really understand what type of connection Gakuto might possibly have with him. Sure Hiyoshi was a strong taciturn type, but his protective streak would surely become too constrictive for an outgoing boy like Gakuto.

His direct line of questioning lead to a flare of temper and a gravelled whisper. 'I am not a … homosexual.'

'Neither am I,' Yuushi replied frankly, enlightened by Hiyoshi's defensiveness. Gakuto certainly did like a challenge, and Hiyoshi's denial of his sexual orientation would be just the type of challenge to bring out Gakuto's competitive side.

'I have a girlfriend?' Hiyoshi protested, cheeks deeply coloured.

'Sure… I have a girlfriend too.' Yuushi circled Hiyoshi's name, watching the boy's glare grow ever darker.

'Why are you circling my name? What's going on?'

'That's what I'm here to find out,' he replied.

Yuushi knocked on the door to the student council room. He was about to accuse the Student Council President and Tennis Captain of trying to poach his lover, but it never paid to be rude to Atobe Keigo as a general rule.

Atobe appeared as relaxed and composed as ever. 'Tea?'

Yuushi nodded and accepted the tea from his captain. Seated in the chair across from Atobe, he met his captain's gaze.

'I know why you're here, Oshitari,' Atobe said evenly.

'You do?'

'Yes, I've had several… ah, visitors this afternoon.'

Yuushi nodded, clipboard resting in his lap. 'Any comments?'

Atobe pushed his hair back from his forehead and smiled magnanimously. 'If I wanted Gakuto, I would already have him.'

Silence stretched as they held each other's gaze. Eventually Yuushi relented under the even stare of his captain and picked up his pen. Yuushi crossed Atobe from his list.

'What do you think you're doing?' Gakuto leaned against the wall to regard him.

Yuushi smiled and stacked his school shoes in his cubical. Gakuto had a particularly petulant look on his face. 'I'm ascertaining some facts,' he replied.

'No you're not,' Gakuto said accusingly, eyes narrowing to mere slits. 'You're interrogating team mates.'

'…to ascertain certain facts,' Yuushi replied calmly.

Gakuto's hand resting on his arm was like a brand. 'Why are you doing this to me,' Gakuto asked angrily.

'Funny,' he replied archly. 'That's what I was asking myself.' Yuushi shrugged off his touch, it was extremely distracting and right now he had to focus on the issues at hand. 'But it's okay, Gakuto. I only have one more person to interview and then everything will be fine.'

What he didn't hear was Gakuto's whisper as he left.

'No it won't.'

5/

It was possible that Yuushi was the most astonished he'd ever been.

The depth of his rival's deception was astounding. His ability to deflect suspicion genius. It was his most difficult interrogation, if only because his subject was brutally truthful, and the truths brutal.

Jirou was no cute and innocent sleeping boy…

'So you're really quite fond of Gakuto then?' Yuushi asked dejectedly.

'Yep,' Jirou yawned sweetly. 'We're really close.'

'… and you want to ah, sleep with him…'

'As much as possible. He's super comfy and easy to bear hug.'

Yuushi shook his head to clear the sharp sting. It was true. Gakuto was the best person to bear hug. He melded into you, and squeaked in a highly amusing manner. There were a lot of things about Gakuto that were best. 

'Yuushi?' Jirou lent over him in false concern. 'Are you okay?'

It was the height of cruelty, to ask him such a question at such a time. It was clear to him that he had seriously misjudged Jirou's character over the years.

Harmless.

That is what he'd assumed. He had never been so wrong. All this time he'd watched the easy friendship between his partner and Jirou, never once suspecting that behind the sweet face and drowsy eyes, lay a calculating mastermind. Assessing his every move. Ever patient, waiting for his fatal mistake… and he'd made one.

Pushed too hard. Pushed too fast. Wanted too much. How could he have risked it all?

Standing slowly, he pulled himself together. His path had never been as clear as it was now.

'I...' he pointed towards Jirou. 'I will never let you take him. I challenge you to a duel.'

'…' Jirou blinked. 'I don't want to have a duel…' he frowned.

'A tennis duel, for Gakuto…' Yuushi replied irritably.

'Ah… I like tennis,' Jirou smiled happily.

'Atobe,' Jirou called out to their captain waving his arms widely. 'Oshitari and I are going to play tennis.'

Atobe turned and raised a questioning eyebrow. 

'Winner gets to keep Gakuto!'

6/  
The duel for Gakuto's affections was a secret, so naturally almost everyone knew. The crowds surrounding the Hyoutei tennis courts were six rows deep.

Yuushi had skipped last class in an attempt to find his centre, but it seemed that his centre had become rather adept at avoiding him. Three days without speaking properly to Gakuto and he had a visceral need to see him, to explain, to say something that would put everything right again. What it would be, he had no idea.

All of the regulars except for Gakuto were seated on the sidelines of the court. Yuushi scanned the crowds for Gakuto's stand out crown of red… but couldn't see him.

'He's not coming,' Shishido grunted as he passed the other player. Yuushi, looked askance. 'He mentioned it in geometry… said it didn't matter who won.'

'Oh…'

'Yeah, about before,' Shishido gestured to his face. 'I was a little confused, Ohtori mentioned the questions and, ah… we're good right?'

Yuushi nodded.

They stood awkwardly in silence on the sidelines of the court, until Shishido clumsily slapped his shoulder in quite a painful manner.

'Sorry,' Shishido grimaced.

Taking his position on the base line of the court, his arms felt strangely heavy, his racquet a dead weight in his grip.

Akutagawa Jirou…

When all year long he had watched Jirou sleep, yawn and eat. It was hard to remember that once the boy was awoken his energy and enthusiasm was endless, his serve and volley reasonably spectacular.

The ball smacked down by his feet, he'd barely lifted his racquet to return the serve.

Jirou waved to him from the other side of the court. The boy's smile biting deep.

'Fifteen love, Akutagawa,' called Atobe from the referee's position.

A flash of red caught his attention. Gakuto. He'd come. Yuushi wouldn't let Gakuto see him lose. Whether Gakuto felt the outcome mattered or not, he would fight.

'Oshitari?' Atobe called out.

'I'm ready,' Yuushi replied. He had never lost a practice game to Jirou. Not once.

He couldn't believe it when the ball sailed past the end of his racquet and stuck down on the court. It was over.

Seven five, Akutagawa Jirou. A wave of cheers rolled out from the crowd, assaulting his ears. He didn't know what was paralysing him more. That he'd lost to Jirou or that he'd lost Gakuto…

Atobe paused by his side as he left the courts. Yuushi wasn't expecting any condolences.

His captain folded his arms and regarded him with a narrowed gaze. 'This is by far the stupidest thing you have ever done.'

Which was saying something as Yuushi had done a number of stupid things in his life, several of which Atobe had witnessed.

'I'm getting that impression,' he replied listlessly. 'Is he—'

'He's left.'

'With Jirou?'

Atobe made an annoyed sound and shook his head. 'You are an idiot.'

Yeah. He was getting that impression too.

7/

On Monday day he saw no reason to get out of bed. Gakuto wouldn't be waiting for him at the corner, and wouldn't annoy him with endless text messages if he should miss his first class. Gakuto wouldn't scold him for having no lunch, and wouldn't be offering half of his own.

There would be no endless chatter, no pointless anecdotes and he wouldn't be required to watch Gakuto play Dead or Alive Volleyball at the arcade for three hours. After the arcade they wouldn't have ramen for dinner and melon ice for desert, and at the end of the night they wouldn't stand partially concealed at the corner they'd met at that morning, and kiss.

His phone rang and it wasn't Gakuto.

'Hello?'

'Get out of bed,' came Atobe's crisp order over the line.

'No… I'm unwell,' Yuushi replied rolling over into his pillows.

'You're not unwell. At least not physically… I currently have no end of misgivings about your mental health. So, get out of bed,' replied Atobe.

Yuushi shook his head and groaned. 'I don't want to.'

'I am aware of that, but you've severely inconvenienced me this weekend and I am determined to exact my revenge. If you make me put a lot of effort into it, you'll find it most unpleasant.'

'Inconvenienced?' Yuushi asked.

Atobe huffed over the line and Yuushi had no trouble picturing his exact expression. 'My bed, Yuushi… was not made for three.'

'Oh god,' he moaned.

'Don't be dramatic… well any more dramatic than you've already been. You need to come back to school and fix this little problem. Jirou is absolutely convinced that he and Gakuto are… bosom buddies.' Atobe's voice sounded unusually strained

'Jirou sleeps in your bed?' Yuushi asked blinking the sleep from his eyes.

'Let's not get off topic. My point here is that Gakuto does not, and will not ever,' Atobe smoothly interjected.

'So tell that to Jirou, it's not my problem anymore.'

'Yuushi… If you don't get to school I'm going to make it your problem. Yuushi?'

'Bye Atobe. See you… sometime,' he replied before hanging up the phone.

With a lazy toss he sent his mobile sailing over to the other side of the room, where he could more efficiently ignore it, and went back to sleep.

The sound of his window sliding open woke him up. Yuushi scrambled for his glasses and quickly put them on. The foot poking through his window could belong to no one but Gakuto. Size thirty-eight K. Swiss Preventers…

'Yuushi, you bastard,' Gakuto spat from halfway out the window. 'Help me in, or I swear I'm never talking to you again.'

Somewhat confused by Gakuto's sudden arrival he climbed out of bed. Gakuto's bag came sailing over the window sill unexpectedly and struck him in the chest. 'Have you come to beat me up, Gakuto?' he asked rubbing his arm.

'It's a possibility. You'd certainly deserve it,' he replied pushing his other leg into the window, the hem of his track pants catching on the sill.

He grabbed Gakuto's ankles. At which point all the blood in his body rushed toward his groin. Gakuto's skin was feeling rather smoother than normal.

A kick that only narrowly avoided reversing his blood rush, brought him back to the task at hand. He hauled Gakuto over the window sill, purposely mishandling him in all the right places.

For the first time since he'd known Gakuto he was having trouble saying something. He thought that maybe he should apologise, but was concerned about making the situation more awkward than it already was. He considered making a joke to break the tension, but most comments he thought of would only get him slapped. So he went back to the idea of apologising.

Of course he was working a little too slowly for Gakuto.

'Are you even going to apologise to me?' Gakuto asked straightening out his track pants and pulling his shirt down.

'I was working up to it.'

'How long do you think that might take?' his partner replied crossing his arms defensively.

Yuushi took in Gakuto's frown and slightly narrowed eyes, but completely ignored the implications in favour of indulging his curiosity. 'I'm not sure… I'm a little distracted by the fact that you shaved your legs.'

Gakuto flushed. A slight warmth of colour rushing to his cheeks. 'I didn't shave my legs,' he replied.

'Felt like they were shaved.'

'I had them waxed… but this isn't the conversation we're having. I need—'

'Waxed?' he interrupted. Gakuto hated pain. '… for Jirou?'

'What?'

'Did you wax your legs for Jirou,' he repeated as he stepped closer to his partner.

'Are you completely mad?' Gakuto asked backing up to the wall. 'Why—'

Yuushi pressed his fingers over Gakuto's soft lips and pushed the inside of his thigh against the outside of Gakuto's. He leant in closer, his breath trailing over Gakuto's neck eliciting a shiver from his partner. Gakuto's scent filled him, the air heated between them, and he wanted him. 'Did you sleep in their bed?' he whispered softly, breath ghosting over the shell of Gakuto's ear.

Gakuto's hair trailed tantalizingly over his neck as he shook his head. 'Would it… would it make you jealous?'

'Yes.' He flicked the tip of his tongue against Gakuto's neck. Just a taste.

'N-no… Yuushi, please…' Gakuto murmured, turning his head away.

Yuushi smiled against his partner's skin. Gakuto's neck was always sensitive. 'Did you do it for me?' he asked letting Gakuto feel his interest.

His breath caught in his throat as Gakuto sunk his fingers into his hair and leaned into his neck. 'Yuushi?'

'Mmm?' he replied, pushing his nose into Gakuto's hair.

'I did it for you…' Gakuto's voice quivered against his ear. 'So we can end this.'

8/

'End this?' he repeated sinking down onto the bed.

He would've preferred a beating to those two little words dropping from Gakuto's lips. He would've taken a kick to the groin to stop those words, to stop the sensation of his life draining out through his feet.

'Who is it?' he whispered. 'Who is it that you like better than me?'

'There's no one Yuushi.'

'Then why?' he spat tersely.

'I'm tired of playing games… Yuushi?' Gakuto leaned over him, but didn't touch him. 'I'm giving you what you wanted… so you'll be happy.' Gakuto uncertainly fiddled with the hem of his shirt. 'We could catch the two-twenty five express. It won't be as… crowded,' he muttered nervously.

He watched morbidly entranced as Gakuto slid his track pants down over his legs, revealing a slightly crumpled school skirt. Gakuto avoided his gaze as Yuushi lingered over his slim legs and unusually narrow hips.

The voyeuristic fantasy that he'd obsessively tried to coerce Gakuto into wasn't arousing. Yuushi shook his head ruefully. In all the time that Gakuto had seemed reluctant, he'd never really considered that Gakuto didn't want to do it.

How many things had he made Gakuto do, that his partner didn't want to?

He reached out his hand to touch the hem of the skirt as it brushed gently along his legs. 'Gakuto…'

He slid from the bed to his knees and wrapped his arms around Gakuto's legs. He could do nothing but shake his head.

'Yuushi?' Gakuto's hand slipped gently into his hair. 'Are you…'

'I'm sorry Gakuto,' he whispered harshly. 'I'm sorry for not listening to you. F-for not… hearing you…'

'Yuushi I—'

'I'm not done,' he snapped tightening his grip on his partners legs.

Gakuto shifted uneasily in his tight embrace. Then the red head gracefully sunk to the floor, kneeling across from him. Yuushi took the opportunity to hold him for the first time in a long time, or perhaps the first time ever.

'I'm sorry, because I'm going to make you do one last thing you don't want to.'

'Yuushi—' Gakuto tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip.

'I'm going to make you stay, and you won't regret it Gakuto, I promise. I won't ask you to do anything you don't want to. I'll listen I swear, I'll—'

'Yuushi. Yuushi, please…' Gakuto desperately struggled from his tight embrace. His small hands against his face, warm lips frantically pressed against his skin. 'Please stop crying, I'm staying… I'm staying.'

'I'm crying?'

Gakuto only brushed his fingers over his cheeks and smiled. 'You've been a complete asshole.'

'I know.'

'You've pissed off everyone on the team… except Jirou of course.'

'I know.'

'You were acting…' Gakuto shook his head.

'I thought someone else was… It was making me mental.'

Yuushi climbed back onto the bed and pulled Gakuto after him. For a long while he just enjoyed the heavy sensation of Gakuto's body against his. And the fact that Gakuto just curled up against his side, smiling.

'Did you really sleep in Atobe's bed?'

Gakuto smiled widely. 'Not telling…'

Yuushi snorted derisively. 'What's his bed like?'

'Jirou likes it…'

'Oh really…' Yuushi fiddled with the hem of Gakuto's skirt. 'You know, this is really sexy. Seiken Girls?'

'No. Toudai University…' Gakuto replied.

'Really?' Yuushi drew his hand under the skirt. 'Are you wearing… panties?'

'Mmm…' Gakuto shifted under his hands. 'I am… your favourite colour.'

Yuushi flipped the skirt up quickly stealing a glance. 'Pink is not my favourite colour…'

Gakuto laughed, pushing the skirt back down his legs. 'Yuushi, are you happy?' he asked propping himself up on one arm.

He was. '… more than I know how to explain.'

Gakuto nodded to himself, checks a little flushed. 'That's good, because… well Jirou wants me Mondays and Thursdays.'

'What?' Yuushi sat up on the bed.

'Well, he did win fair and square.' Gakuto replied. Yuushi frowned. 'Give me some credit, Yuushi. I negotiated him down to two days a week.'

'Are you serious?' he asked.

'Jirou's serious.'

'I'm not sharing you.' He replied in exasperation.

'That's really sweet… we are only sleeping you know.'

'Still, I'm not sharing,' he replied crossing his arm defiantly.

Gakuto sighed and lay back on the bed. 'Then there's only one thing to do…'

'And what's that?'

Gakuto shrugged, 'you'll have to win me back.'

'Too easy,' Yuushi replied. 'You'll be all mine by tomorrow.'

He racquet skittered across the court and into the net. Yuushi couldn't believe it. It was bullshit. It wasn't even possible, how could it be possible… God damn Atobe.

'Newcomer Akutagawa Jirou has won, seven-five in a huge upset over countryman Oshitari Yuushi, knocking the sixteenth seed out of the Australian Open in the first round. Have you ever seen Oshitari so off his game?

Akutagawa's coach seemed confident coming into this game, but I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it for myself.'

Yuushi grabbed the water bottle from Gakuto and sat down on the bench beside his partner. Together they looked out across the courts towards the crowd where Atobe and Jirou were surrounded by press. 'Still can't win,' Yuushi murmured.

Gakuto shrugged. 'Achilles heel.'

'Atobe really pressed his advantage.'

Gakuto smiled and pressed a discreet kiss to the corner of his mouth. 'I think he's still pissed about me telling everyone Jirou tops.'

'Yeah, that could be it…'


End file.
